Chill A Bottle Of Wine Quickly With One Simple Towel Trick

You've probably been there before: You have your best bottle of red wine out, but it's room temperature or even warm. Sipping warm wine is doable, but it's far from enjoyable. Getting your bottle of wine to an ideal temperature doesn't require much time or effort and little other than what you already have in your kitchen.

You can skip the ice and bucket and instead wrap your bottle of wine in a wet dish towel and place it in the freezer. You can also achieve this with a few layers of paper towels, but a thicker dish towel seems to work best. Soak the towel in water and wrap securely around your favorite bottle of red wine or rosé. After about 10 minutes, you'll notice the bottle is significantly cooler. It won't be ice cold, but this is more than suitable to pop open and serve up for yourself or guests you're entertaining.

You could just place it in the freezer to keep your bottle of wine cold, but it's the addition of the wet towel that really does the trick. This drastically speeds up the cooling process compared to placing the wine in an ice bucket or fridge. If you efficiently wrap the entire bottle in the water soaked towel, then the entire bottle will chill evenly, versus certain parts of the bottle being colder than others.

But what types of wine do you actually need to keep cold? The aforementioned red wines like a Pinot Noir, Grenache, or Gamay just taste so much better when chilled around 57 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature range lets the floral, fruity notes of the wine shine through. The same goes for a rosé, which tastes best around the 50 degree Fahrenheit mark. You don't need this ice cold, but anything at room temperature doesn't let the crisp, refreshing notes truly blossom.

But let's say you don't have the time to chill a bottle of wine? That's not a problem, especially depending on what variety you're pouring up. A Sherry or Port is absolutely acceptable served at cellar or room temperature. In this instance, a solid room temp allows the deep flavors to speak without tasting overly strong or heavy on the alcohol. Whether you choose red or wine, it really boils down to the best wine pairings for your courses.